A stronger version of our Lost and Found Abbey Ale brewed to a more contemplative alcohol content. Massive in every stretch of the brewing way possible this is the sort of beer that will remind a beer drinker who considers themselves a saint that even saints stray as sinners from time to time.

Beer: Ratings & Reviews

I bought this beer in Denver right after GABF 08, aged until then in appropriate conditions.

I poured this corked and caged 750 into my Boulevard Smokestack chalice and had huge expectations. When the cork easily slid out with just a bit of an accompanying pop, I thought to myself, well it wont be over carbonated, that's for sure. When I poured the beer it poured a dark molasses brown with just an inkling of a tan head, leaving no lacing whatsoever. The aroma is not good. Huge herbal notes over power any semblance of a nose. Rosemary and really what reminds me of Everclear. The flavor of this beer is probably the biggest train wreck of flavors I have ever experienced. Rosemary/herbal flavors dominate, fusel alcohols, molasses, and a cloying raisiny sweetness that lingers right behind the rosemary. The mouthfeel is light with very low levels of carbonation. I honestly can't see how someone can finish this beer. Looking back at others reviews, it makes me wonder if there is that much fluctuation between batches. I've gotten through about 5oz's and the rest is going down the drain. This beer isn't infected, no problem with introduced flavors. I feel like I need to scrub my tongue with Listerine to get the taste off.

As a note, this is my first Lost Abbey beer that I found worse then good. That means it deserves a second chance and I will update my review when I re-review it.

edit:I was told buy a trusted pal, that when he had this beer fresh it was very yummy. He and I tend to rate with similar scores. I am going to attempt to try this beer again, but leave this review for now. seeing as how the sample I had not gone bad in any infection sort of way. It just may not age well.:

*i hated it and would never buy it*

app: brown garnet. thin lookin, looks fine not amazing.

smells: BAD, menthol, minty herby plants. some malts hide back there.

taste: it is not good at all, it is way way spiced, its not good spiced. way over the top.

appearance: nice rich brown opaque color, correct for the style.smell: stale diet coke?? this was so strong i wasn't able to isolate any other scents..taste: my palate was overwhelmed by the unholy trinity of sour, alcohol and bitter. I was not able to even try and pick out any distinguishing flavors..mouthfeel: probably about the right amount of viscosity and carbonation for the styleoverall: perhaps i should try this again??? Maybe i had a bad representation of this beer??

below average. The combination of raisins, honey, and rosemary just did not convince me that this is a worthy beer. I tried it regardless with four other co-workers and the general unanimous vote was negative. no sense of rosemary, overly raisin, and the honey only draws sweetness to this beer. I was not impressed by this beer at all, an overrated ale that was just disappointing.

Not being a huge fan of Lost Abbey, I was excited to try one of their beers that I felt would benefit greatly from age, perhaps becoming on par with their few gems.

On a nice summer evening, I pulled the cork of the bottle to not even the slightest pop. It poured completely still. The deep ruby, almost black would have been nice, but the absolute lack of head made it look more like oil than beer. At four years a beer like this should be at it's prime... hell, why even cork the beer if it's not going to have carbonation? Sigh... Lost Abbey.

The aroma revealed some pleasant oxidation that is appropriate for its age, and it sat well with the deep and complex malt aroma. Taste followed. Enjoyable, sure, but nothing to write home about.

It was a bit too sweet/cloying for the style. Sure, the absolute lack of carbonation accentuated the stickiness, but I was certain that it didn't attenuate well enough. Lack of CO2 meant a hydrometer reading would be valid--1.024. Gah, that's about twice the residual sweetness that I'd want in a spiced Belgian-style ale! The bottle lists it as 9% ABV, which leads me to assume that the new 10% bottles may have better attenuation?

Anyway, I was going to drain pour it, but instead mixed the second half with a Maudite from Unibroue, and then went out into our spa and got drunk. Kickass blend.

Drank this last night, no notes. I thought it was rather complex and interesting tastes, but frankly, nasty. It resembled sweat/BO, and urine. The rosemary was somewhat interesting, the flavor mostly malt balanced, and the appearance dark and okay, but the flavor just didn't appeal to me whatsoever.

Looks like a freshly brewed Americano coffee with irregularly bubbled head, indicating the active Belgian yeast, which clings to the glass for dear life before it pops to nearly nothing. Left some lacing with the first few drinks. Licorice, raisins, and sweet dates make up the bulk of the aroma. There is some faint dark Belgian malt. Most of the aroma is faint with this beer. Bitter licorice and dark fruit flavors. Some date and bitter chocolate round it out. A very murky, thick beer with a dry finish.

To be honest, this didn't come across well as a Belgian Strong Dark Ale. I didn't get too many dark fruit flavors and they were weak when I identified them. The black licorice was too prevalent for this licorice hater. I had high hopes, so maybe that's why I feel let down by this brew. Maybe I'm just putting to much stock into the Belgian Strong Dark Ale description, or maybe I need to just read the label before ordering a sample. I'd like to see them make this their own by giving it a distinct flavor that separates it from the pack.

Pours looking like the usual abt/quad/bsda style, heavy on the brown, thin on the head. Aroma of alcohol, prunes and raisins.

Some brown sugar thrown in to hopefully drown out the bitter dark fruit and pungent alcohol. Helped with the bitter fruit, but not so much with the heavy sting of alcohol. Toffee seems to be represented heavily as well. I just can't get over the high bitter, high alcohol vibe of this. Its like they blended a quad and a 40 of malt liquor at some times.

I love some of the Lost Abbey stuff, but this beer is just a big disappointment to me, it didn't really do anything well, other than maybe look nice. Don't judge a book by its cover. . . the cover might be substantially better than what is inside.

Again, a quite disappointing pop accompanies the cork opening. Quite dark, but still has a few dark red highlights. Small tan head, little retention or lacing.Aroma is strange, to say the least. Candy sugar, dark fruits are there, but rosemary is way too obvious. The full body could definitely use more carbonation, as it seems to be a theme with a lot of Lost Abbey beers. If also has a strange taste, and flavors, which are abundant, do not blend all that well. It is too sweet at times, and then the excessive amount of rosemary (not sure if there is a right aount) makes it spicy, but unpleasantly so. It is quite strange, but it feels like somebody dropped a flat can of coke in a belgian strong dark, and then added rosemary.Unfortunately, I do not seem to appreciate most of these Lost Abbey experiments. Another miss, in my opinion, immensely inferior to the style classics.

Definitely taste the rosemary which they used to much of with some hints of honey, raisins, figs, and a dark candy sugar sweetness. The rosemary is the main thing you can taste in the beer which is a bad thing for me.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied and creamy with very low carbonation. The rosemary leaves a kinda unpleasant aftertaste.

I would not have more then one of these and had to force myself to down the bottle. If they toned down the rosemary or not put it in at all this would be a really good brew.

Paid $13.99 for a 750ml bottle from Healthy Spirits in San Francisco. I have had one other bottle of this and noted that I enjoyed it but did not review at that time. I pour into a large snifter to review. This is the 2009 vintage.

Head is rather frothy for a Belgian and just over an inch in height. Head is beige in color and retains well. Beer is black and leaves behind nice sheets of lace.

Aroma is rather mild of dark fruits and roasted malts.

Taste is much more stout-like than Belgian-like. Dark roasted malts dominate.

The mouthfeel puts this more into the Belgian category. Rather carbonated yet still very thick and full bodied. Prickly smoothness in the mouth.

I'm not sure why I was impressed by this beer the first time around. It seems like a Belgian Stout if anything and a mediocre example at that. Needs to be bigger in flavor for its high ABV.

Appearance: Dark brown with reddish hues around the edges of my glass. No head at all.

Smell: As advertised, lots of raisin in the smell.

Taste: Hmmm, I'm a little ambivalent on the taste. I tend to appreciate thicker beers with dark fruit and raisin flavors, but the rosemary is a little off-putting to me. The flavor is somewhat medicinal. All that combined with the sweet syrupy mouthfeel is cloying.

Mouthfeel: Thick and syrupy. I'd personally prefer more carbonation.

Drinkability: Had to pour out the remainder of this one. This should be sold in smaller bottles. Having no option but to buy this in 750 ml is ridiculous.

O: I don't know what it is but this beer just had a really weird nasty flavor to it that lingered after each sip. It was sort of a nasty Steel Reserve/Mickey's kind of boozy/chemically flavor, and it became more evident the more I drank. Don't think I'll ever buy this again, especially at the exorbitant price of $13.99 for a 750ml bottle